Interviews: The iconic art of Pocket God’s Allan Dye
I happen to be a huge fan of the iPhone game Pocket God, and I’m obviously not alone. So far over 1 million iPhone users have downloaded the pint-sized God-simulator in which you alternately punish and reward (ahh, let’s face it, you know you just punish!) your reverently adorable Pygmy islanders. And with nearly weekly updates since its initial release back in January, there is no denying that its developers are being rewarded for the huge amount of work they are putting into the game.
Above: An early conceptual sketch of the islanders.
Much of my love for Pocket God has to do with the wonderful art design of the game, supplied by illustrator/animator Allan Dye who is co-creator of Pocket God along with programmer Dave Castelnuovo.
Above: Allan creates the art for Pocket God using Flash.
Unlike most iPhone games, nearly all of Pocket God’s 18 updates have been substantial, adding creative new ways to mess with your worshipers, and almost all have also come with a brand new game icon for the iPhone’s screen. In my opinion these icons are real works of art, and they are so well-designed that many times you can guess what the new features of each update might be simply from the icon alone.
Above: Another early conceptual sketch of the islanders.
To that end, I contacted Allan and asked him if he would be nice enough to send us the complete set of icons to date so we can take a look at how the game has evolved in the last 6 months, as well as get an idea for how the Pocket God design process works. (Allan was also nice enough to give us an exclusive preview of the next two icons as well as a little peek into what the updates will hold!) So read on to witness the evolution Pocket God’s icons as well as the evolution of your godlike powers. Read more
41 Questions with Dr. Macenstein – Because 20 just isn’t enough
There’s probably no character in the Mac Blog-o-sphere as interesting and mysterious as the sarcastic and quick-witted Dr. Macenstein from Macenstein.com. For over three years “The Doc”, as his faithful readers know him, has edutained his audience with his unique take on random bits of Mac news and Mac-related humor, building his site into one of the more popular Mac-related blogs. Yet despite being such a brilliant, charismatic character in the Maciverse, to date, no one has had the guts (or, more likely, desire) to sit him down for an interview. Knowing his story MUST be told, however, The Doc was nice enough to open himself up to the one interviewer he felt capable of tackling such a talent – his loyal readers!
The following are answers to questions sent in by faithful Macenstein readers The questions were broken down into categories, as there was some overlapping. Topics covered are grouped into: Macenstein-related, Personal, Financial, Idiotic, Hostile, Mac Chick-related, and Apple-related. So pull up a chair, sit back, and prepare to learn absolutely nothing about the enigmatic Dr. Macenstein! Read more
Confessions of an Apple Store Employee (Yes, the Geniuses find your porn and they laugh)
Anyone who’s ever had to bring their Mac in for service has experienced that moment of trepidation before handing the machine over… “Is there anything on my computer I’d be embarrassed if someone saw?” you wonder. Well, speaking as someone who has nothing BUT embarrassing things on their laptop, I’ll guess the answer is “yes”. From an e-mail with your registration information to AshleyMadison.com to your Barbara Streisand collection to an inappropriate iChat conversation with a minor, we all have something we’d prefer to keep the repair technician’s eye’s off of (for the record, I’m 80% sure I have none of those on my computer…). Well, faithful Macenstein reader “Mr. F”, a former Apple Store employee of two years, has decided to give us a little insight into the inner workings of the Apple Store, and it turns out you might want to think twice about hiding your sensitive info next time your Mac needs a tune up.
How to get a discount
The Doc: “OK, so first up, what’s the best way to get a discount on a Mac?â€
Mr. F.: “Well, it might sound obvious, but Read more
Your chance to touch the hand of God
Despite being one of the most entertaining, mysterious, quick-witted, and, dare I say, charismatic characters in the Mac Blog-osphere, no one has yet had the balls to attempt to sit me down for an interview – and with good reason! After all, few could hope to survive direct contact with a being made of 100% pure sarcasm, and odds are prolonged exposure to my genius would likely render any would-be interviewer incontinent. However, there IS a chance that in small bursts, and from a safe distance, an interview with the elusive Dr. Macenstein may be possible. To that end, I propose a challenge to my most faithful and bravest of readers: Ask me a question in the comments – a question about anything at all that you wish to know about me, the site, the Mac Chicks, Steve Jobs, Apple, quantum physics, anything. I will select the 20 questions I feel most potentially interesting and answer them in a 20-questions-style interview that will be sure to win awards.
Interview with Christina K, the brains and beauty behind Fuzzle
When I think of the words “computer programmer” normally I think of a dorky, pasty male who lives on snack foods and emerges from his basement only to replenish said snacks and occasionally attend a World Wide Developer Conference. So I was understandably intrigued when the stereotype-shattering video below surfaced of the lovely Christina, the programming brains behind the highly successful iPhone app Fuzzle.
My 6 year old daughter is a big fan of Fuzzle, and I am a big fan of Christina, 
so I managed to track her down and ask her a bit about her game, being a female programmer in a male dominated industry, and the challenges of programming for the iPhone.
Macenstein: Hi Christina. You have a lovely accent. Where are you from, and how long have you been programming?
Christina: I’m from Estonia, a small country next to Finland and Russia. I started to program 4 years ago after having a programming course in high school. But professionally only 2 years ago.
Macenstein: Are you an avid gamer?
Christina: Well yeah, but I’m not so into the typical ‘hardcore’ games. I tend to prefer small puzzle games, which is why the games I’m creating for the iPhone are this type … and I also think the iPhone is more suited to these simple kind of games. I like something I can play quickly on the tram for example. Read more
Lyons: FSJ may return – but SJ still looks like $#!@
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, News, Opinion, interviews
Fake Steve Jobs, aka the Real Dan Lyons, starts work tomorrow at his new gig at Newsweek, and it looks like the Fake Steve Jobs feature may be coming along for the ride. Our friends over at Mac Soda had a chance to talk to Dan about his motives for discontinuing the feature, and the likelihood of its return.
Lyons had previously cited Steve Jobs’s health as the primary reason for ending the Fake Steve feature, and he reasserts that in the interview :
“I was worried about Steve Jobs’s health and felt uneasy parodying a sick person.”
When questioned as to his thoughts on Joe Nocera’s NY Times piece where Jobs himself claimed his health was not a serious issue, Lyons seems to imply he knows otherwise.
“Well it’s a weird situation. I can’t really get into this but people close to him [Jobs] have been saying for quite a while (before the appearance onstage) that he’s really sick. And someone who saw him last week says he still looks like shit.”
While less than tactful, Lyons’s motives for ending the feature seem compassionate enough. However despite his apparent belief that Steve’s health issues may still be ongoing, it looks as though Lyons is prepared to resurrect the feature at some point for Newsweek.
“Anyway, I’m starting at Newsweek tomorrow and Fake Steve was supposed to be part of my job,” said Lyons. “So we’re going to discuss whether to revive the blog.”
So I suppose the question will now be, does Lyons believe Steve is healthy again, or does he no longer feel “uneasy” about parodying a sick person? I guess we’ll have to check out Newsweek next week and find out.
Catching up with MCotM Lauren Reeves, 1 year later
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Celebrity Mac Chick, Photos, Rumors, iPhone, interviews
We recently ran into our August 2007 Mac Chick of the Month Lauren Reeves and noticed she was sporting a brand new 3G iPhone – so we decided to use our meeting as a chance to catch up with Lauren, get her feelings on the new iPhone, and of course, to use it as an excuse to run some more pictures of one of our favorite MCotM’s.
Macenstein: Hey Lauren. So, what have you been up to since last year’s Mac Chick feature?
Lauren: Things have been going great with acting, I’m still doing sketches on David Letterman and I’m still performing Improv at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and I have a few big pranks coming out on the Improv Everywhere website. The big project I’m working on now is shooting a film next summer in Alaska. I have a great script to work with, my older sister Maria (a Northwestern University grad) wrote it and we have a production crew going up to film it. It’s a great story line and I think it’ll do really well in film festivals.
Macenstein: So I see you have the new 3G iPhone there. Did you have any trouble getting it? I know the lines in NYC were (and still are) crazy.
Lauren: Actually I was really lucky, I wasn’t in New York when the iPhones came out. I was in Fairbanks, Alaska. I drove past the AT&T store at 6:45am and there were four people out front. So I went and got breakfast, then got in line around 7:30. I was the 13th person in line. I was out of the store at 10 with my new phone.
Macenstein: Nice: I’ll have to remember that “Go to Alaska” tip when the 4G iPhone comes out. Now, as a happy 1st gen iPhone user I was Read more
